1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to vehicle on-board systems, and, more particularly, to a vehicle on-board system adapted to collect and analyze sensor data generated within the vehicle environment to determine event occurrence and to furnish such event information to end users for specialized purposes.
2. Description of the Related Art
There are no current methodologies that are effective in dynamically monitoring roadway assets, roadway conditions, and traffic utilization in a manner that produces meaningful and reliable information useful in enabling users to optimally navigate the roadways, and in providing stewards of the roadway infrastructure the opportunity to determine the best manner to maintain, manage, design, enforce, and improve the roadways.
America has built an infrastructure system to support transportation and commerce that leads the industrialized world.
However, the rate of deterioration of this system is increasing dramatically, a dangerous trend that is affecting highway safety, as well as the health of the economy. The repair costs to motorists in the form of roadway-related vehicle repairs and operating costs is significant.
The effects of traffic congestion may be even worse. Passenger and commercial travel on our highways continue to increase dramatically. The average rush hour grew more than 18 minutes between 1997 and 2000. Based on studies conducted in 1997, the Texas Transportation Institute estimates that each year in the United States, 6.7 billion gallons of fuel and 4.3 billion hours of time are wasted due to congestion. The waste due to congestion translates to a total annual cost of $72 billion, $900 for every eligible driver, every year.
Roadway managers and enforcement agencies rely upon expensive periodic roadway studies, surveys and checkpoints, to monitor the roadway condition, capacity, safety, and security. The survey results eventually are used to determine the appropriate corrective or preventative action for maintaining the integrity of the pavement and addressing other roadway issues. These studies, surveys, and checkpoints are quite costly. If surveys just for pavement condition were performed on the entire four million mile U.S. roadway network, this represents a potential expense approaching $8 billion. Once the data is collected it quickly becomes obsolete. Federal, State and local governments simply cannot afford to do a meaningful amount of current surveying and analysis, particularly at this cost. The national infrastructure is too expansive to complete all but a small fraction of the needed asset evaluation.